Casting Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, the man who runs Atlantic City with utter and charmingly matter-of-fact corruption, was an unorthodox decision. With his bulging pug eyes, jack-o’-lantern mouth and air of bony twitchiness, Buscemi is the living definition of character actor. From his role as the frighteningly hilarious hit man in “Fargo” to Tony Blundetto in “The Sopranos,” Buscemi is a custom-made weasel — he even voiced the bad guy in “Monsters, Inc.”

He is, in short, the character we are much more accustomed to see being played by the handsome guys… the power-mad but still soulful commander of lawless men whose own narcissism and murderous impulses are made more palatable by physical attractiveness.